Yahoo and Its Family of Brands: Understanding Cookie Usage and Privacy Choices
Yahoo, a well-known name in the digital world, is part of a larger family of brands under its parent company. This family includes notable sites and applications such as AOL, Engadget, Rivals, In The Know, and Makers, among others. These platforms collectively serve millions of users worldwide, providing a variety of content and services.
When users visit Yahoo and its affiliated sites or use their applications, the company employs cookies and similar technologies, including web storage, to enhance user experience. Cookies enable these platforms to store and retrieve information from a user’s device, which helps in several important functions.
Purpose of Cookies on Yahoo’s Platforms
Yahoo uses cookies for the following key purposes:
- Providing Sites and Applications: Cookies help ensure that Yahoo’s websites and apps function properly and deliver the expected services to users.
- User Authentication and Security: They authenticate users, enforce security measures, and help prevent spam and abusive activities on the platforms.
- Measurement and Analytics: Yahoo collects aggregated non-personal data to understand how users interact with their services. This includes counting the number of visitors to pages, identifying the type of device (such as iOS or Android) and browser used, and measuring the duration of visits. Importantly, this data is not linked to individual users.
Consent and Privacy Options
When accessing Yahoo’s services, users are presented with choices regarding their privacy preferences. If a user clicks "Accept all," Yahoo and its partners—which include 236 participants in the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework—will store or use information on the user’s device, including precise geolocation and other personal data like IP addresses and browsing behavior. These data are utilized for analytics, personalized advertising and content delivery, ad measurement, audience insights, and service development.
Alternatively, users who do not want their data used for these additional purposes can click "Reject all." For those who prefer more control, there is an option to "Manage privacy settings," allowing customization of cookie usage and data sharing preferences.
Yahoo emphasizes that users can revoke consent or change their privacy settings at any time by accessing the "Privacy and Cookie Settings" or the "Privacy Dashboard" links available on Yahoo’s websites and applications.
Further Information
Users interested in deeper details about data practices can review Yahoo’s Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. These documents provide comprehensive explanations about how personal data is collected, used, and protected across Yahoo and its family of brands.
By offering clear information and flexible controls, Yahoo aims to respect user privacy while maintaining the functionality and personalization users expect.
